Country Classic Flashback to Feature Kathy Mattea

Each Wednesday I join Pete and Cindy for the Country Classic Flashback. We take a trip down memory lane to highlight a country legend. This week we feature Kathy Mattea.

Kathy Mattea was born in Cross Lanes, West Virgina on June 21, 1959. She became a two time Grammy winner and three time CMA winner. She was raised on the folk-pop music of Joni Mitchell and James Taylor.

Kathy earned a lot of respect for her voice as an instrument through classical training and church singing. She struggled until she recorded a song written by Nanci Griffith, Love at the Five and Dime, which topped out at number three in 1986. That song was a defining moment for Kathy.

She followed that song with several top ten singles until her second number one single, Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses, which earned her a 1989 CMA award for Best Single. It remains her biggest charted hit.

The song, Where've You Been, which Mattea's husband, Jon Vezner, co-wrote with Don Henry, won her a 1990 Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal. Kathy won another Grammy in 1993 for her Christmas album, Good News.

She currently travels the country speaking to crowds about the importance of fighting global warming.

Tune in every Wednesday at 8 a.m. for the Country Classic Flashback. It's brought to you by Midwest Machinery on East Highway 23 in Sauk Rapids with eight other locations around Central MN.

For more of your country classic favorites tune into the Country Classic Show each Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.